Server rack

ABSTRACT

A server and data stored in a memory element or a storage medium can be protected from harmful electromagnetic waves from the outside. Shield fingers are arranged along the circumferences of openings of a front door  16  of an upper main body  12  housing servers and a router in an internal space  27 . In addition, a shield finger is arranged along the circumference of an opening of a lower front door  18  of a lower main body housing a main body of an electric circuit component such as filter  26 . The main bodies and the doors are made of steel and have predetermined thicknesses (40 mm in a bent portion and 21 mm in other portions). In addition, an optical fiber is used as a data line, which is led in an internal space  27  of the upper main body through a conduit  40.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a server rack which blockselectromagnetic waves to protect a server in the inside thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

With remarkable spread of the Internet and computerization ofbusinesses, a variety of servers are arranged in various facilities. Inaddition, many of these servers are connected to an external networksuch as the Internet and constituted such that an access from theoutside is possible.

Such servers are exposed to threats such as information leak andinformation forgery when the servers face acts including the access fromthe outside. To cope with these threats, a technique for prohibitingaccesses other than those of legitimate opposite parties is establishedthrough construction of a firewall.

On the other hand, since a computer itself emits feeble electromagneticwaves, data is likely to be leaked. Further, it is reported that acomputer has very low resistance against electromagnetic waves andmalfunctions because of a signal emitted by an illegal CB radio or thelike, or it is likely that an element or a storage device of thecomputer is destroyed.

In particular, in a data center of a provider where various web serversand database servers are arranged and a data center of a financialinstitution or a public organization where a database server, in whichindividual information of customers or residents are stored, isarranged, it is likely that considerable damage is caused by malfunctionof the servers or destruction of the stored data due to intentionalirradiation of electromagnetic waves (e.g., cyber terrorism).

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rack which canprotect a server and data stored in a memory element or a storage mediumfrom harmful electromagnetic waves from the outside.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is attained by a server rack whichcomprises an upper main body which defines an internal space and isprovided with two openings in a fixed direction and formed of metal witha fixed thickness, a lower main body which is at least provided with oneopening in the fixed direction and formed of metal with a fixedthickness; a front door which closes one opening of the upper main bodyin a closing position thereof; a back door which closes the otheropening of the upper main body in a closing position thereof; and alower front door which closes the opening of the lower main body in aclosing position thereof, and is capable of housing at least pluralityof servers in a stacked state in the internal space of the upper mainbody, the server rack is characterized by comprising shield fingerswhich are arranged along circumferences of the respective openings ofthe upper main body, a shield finger which is arranged along acircumference of the opening of the lower main body, intake holes whichare arranged in the upper main body, the front door, and/or the backdoor, and has at least shield members arranged in hole portions thereof;exhaust holes which are arranged in the upper main body, the front door,and/or the back door, and has at least shield members arranged in holeportions thereof, a plurality of conduits which pierce the upper mainbody and the lower main body, an optical fiber cable which passesthrough the conduit to reach the internal space of the upper main bodyfrom the lower main body, a light-transforming adapter which is arrangedin the internal space, connected to the optical fiber cable, andconverts an optical signal transmitted through the optical fiber into anelectric signal, a power supply line which passes through anotherconduit to reach the internal space of the upper main body from thelower main body, an AC stabilized power supply which is arranged in theinternal space and connected to the power supply line, and an isolationtransformer which is arranged in the internal space and connected to theAC stabilized power supply, and being connected to a plurality ofsockets for supplying power to the server on a secondary side thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, the exhaust holes are provided in a top boardof the upper main body and are fans having blades driven by a motor.

In addition, in the preferred embodiment, the intake holes are arrangedin the back door.

In another preferred embodiment, further holes piercing the upper mainbody and the lower main body are provided. Noise filters are attached inthe internal space of the lower main body through the holes. Inaddition, terminals of the noise filters are exposed in the internalspace of the upper main body through the holes. It is desirable that thenoise filters is interposed between the isolation transformer and thesockets.

In a more preferred embodiment, windows for monitoring an operatingstate of the servers arranged in the internal space from the outside areprovided in the front door. The windows have a shield mesh.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a serverrack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a front view of the server rack in accordance with thisembodiment;

FIG. 2B is a front view showing a state of the server rack in accordancewith this embodiment in which a front door and a lower front doorthereof are removed;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the server rack in accordance withthis embodiment in a state in which a sidewall on the front right sidethereof is removed;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of an upper main body in accordance with thisembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state of the server rack in a state inwhich a top board of the upper main body thereof is removed;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the upper main body in accordance with thisembodiment;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a part A in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8A is a diagram schematically showing a periphery of a conduit inthis embodiment;

FIG. 8B is a diagram schematically showing another periphery of theconduit in this embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically showing an electric circuit inthe server rack in accordance with this embodiment.

DESIRABLE MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspectiveview showing an external appearance of a server rack in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a front view of theserver rack in accordance with this embodiment. FIG. 2B is a front viewshowing the server rack in a state in which a front door thereof isremoved. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, a server rack 10 includes anupper main body 12 and a lower main body 14 which are made of steel. Onthe upper main body 12, an open-closable front door 16 including ahandle 20 is arranged, and a back door 48 (not shown in FIG. 1)described later is also arranged on a backside thereof. Servers can behoused in the inside of the upper main body 12 by opening the front door16. In addition, it becomes possible to perform connection of serversand connection of servers and a router by opening the back door 48.Further, an open-closable lower front door 18 is also arranged on thelower main body 14.

In the server rack in accordance with this embodiment, for example, athickness of a wall of the upper main body is 40 mm in a bent portionand 21 mm in other portions, and a thickness of the front door and theback door is 21 mm. By forming a housing of such thicknesses with steel,in this embodiment, an electromagnetic wave of 500 V/m can be blocked toprotect the server in the inside thereof. The upper main body 12 and thelower main body 14 are not required to be formed integrally,respectively, but may be formed by fixing a plurality of plate membersthrough welding. In this case, welding by the stainless shield weldingmethod is desirable because, with spot welding or attachment by rivets,a shield effect cannot be displayed as a frequency band becomes higher.In addition, it is desirable that the upper main body 12 and the lowermain body 14 are joined by the stainless shield welding rather than thespot welding or the attachment by rivets.

In addition, in this embodiment, the server rack 10 has a size of 600 mmin width×900 mm in depth×1880 mm in height.

Three hinges 22 are provided at a predetermined spacing on one side endof the front door 16. In addition, three door locking members 24 arealso provided at the predetermined spacing on the other side end and ona sidewall of the upper main body 12. The front door 16 is closelyattached and fixed to the front of the upper main body 12. Moreover, inthis embodiment, windows 26 allowing a user to watch an operating stateof servers from the outside are provided in the front door 16. In thisembodiment, since thirteen servers of a 1 U size can be housed in theserver rack 10, thirteen windows 26 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2B, in a space 27 in the upper main body 12, thirteenservers 30 of the 1 U size and one router 32 of the 1 U size can beattached at a predetermined spacing (e.g., 89 mm). The spacing is onefor sufficiently providing an air layer for cooling of the servers. Asdescribed later, an optical cable from the outside is connected to alight-transforming adapter (not shown) arranged in the space 27, and thelight-transforming adapter and the router 32 are connected by anordinary signal line. A signal based upon 10BASE or 100BASE-FX isoutputted from the light-transforming adapter. In addition, since theservers 30 are connected with each other and the router 32 and theservers 30 are also connected in the internal space 27 in a state inwhich electromagnetism from the outside is blocked, it is sufficientthat the ordinary signal line is used for connection between servers 30or between servers 30 and router 32.

In the internal space 27, attachment panels 28, on which predeterminedthreaded holes are formed in order to screw the servers 30, are disposedadjacent to the openings of the upper main body 12. The user can attachthe servers 30 in the inside of the upper main body 12 by, in a state inwhich the front door 16 is opened, housing the servers 30 in the insideof the upper main body 12, and aligning threaded holes provided in frontpanels of the servers and the threaded holes of the attachment panels 28to insert screws in the threaded holes. The user can also attach therouter 32 in the inside of the upper main body 12 in the same manner.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the server rack 10 in accordance withthis embodiment in a state in which a sidewall on a front right sidethereof is removed. As shown in FIG. 2B and FIG. 3, power supply boards46, on which a plurality of outlets (sockets) are attached, are providedon a back side of a left inner wall in the inside of the upper main body12. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 which is a plan viewshowing a state of the upper main body 12 of the server rack in which atop board thereof is removed, holes pierced to the lower main body 14are drilled on a bottom plate of the upper main body 12. Through theholes, a plurality of (six in this embodiment) first power supplyfilters 36 and a plurality of (six in this embodiment) second powersupply filters 38 are attached to the lower main body 14. In the firstpower supply filters 36 and the second power supply filters 38,terminals are exposed on a bottom plate side of the lower main body 14.

Moreover, a shield plate 42 and a shield plate 44 are arrangedsubstantially in the center inside the lower main body 14. In the insideof a space defined by the shield plates, a main body of a shieldtransformer described below is arranged. Terminals of the shieldtransformer are also exposed in a space inside the upper main body 12through the top board of the lower main body 14 and the upper board ofthe upper main body 12 as in the power supply filter or the like.

In addition, holes piercing the bottom plate of the upper main body 12and the top board of the lower main body 14 are drilled in the uppermain body 12, and conduits 40 for passing an optical fiber cable or thelike described later are provided. Of course, it is desirable to shieldunused ones among these conduits 40 with a honeycomb shield or a coppernet to increase the shield effect.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the upper main body 12. As shown in FIG. 3 andFIG. 4, a back door 48 is provided in the back of the upper main body. Aplurality of vent holes 52 are arranged in a lower part of the back door48. In this embodiment, the vent holes 52 have a diameter of about 120mm. As shown in FIG. 3, the vent holes 52 are fitted with members 50provided with a honeycomb shield formed of a copper foil or the like.Alternatively, a shield made of a copper net may be formed. Thehoneycomb shield is grounded by a single line.

In the back door 48, a plurality of (three in this embodiment) hinges 54are provided at a predetermined spacing on one side end thereof, and aplurality of (three in this embodiment) closing handles 58 are attachedat a predetermined spacing on the other side end thereof. The handles 58can rotate in a direction of arrow B around a fulcrum. By being pushedto the outside in a horizontal state, the handles 58 are fitted in holeportions of handle receiving members 60 which are provided incorresponding positions on the side end of the upper main body 12.Consequently, the back door 48 is secured firmly.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the upper main body. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.6, a plurality of (six in this embodiment) fans 62 are provided in thetop board of the upper main body 12. In this embodiment, the fans have adiameter of 120 mm. The fans include rotating blades and a motor (bothof which are not shown). The fans can ventilate the internal space 27 byreceiving supply of power from the outlets (sockets) in the inside ofthe upper main body 12. The tops of the fans 62 are provided with ashield made of a honeycomb shield or a copper net as in the vent holes52. In this way, a predetermined shield member, for example, a honeycombshield is arranged in the openings (the vent holes 52 and the fans 62),whereby electromagnetic waves are prevented from entering the internalspace 27.

Next, shield for the other openings, that is, the front door 16 and theback door 48 will be described. FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view ofa part A in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 7, in this embodiment, a shieldfinger 66 is provided between the back of the front door 16 and thefront of the upper main body 12. More specifically, it is desirable thatthe shield finger 66 is attached along the circumference of the openingof the upper main body 12, in particular, so as to be arranged overpositions where rivets or the like are drilled. Similarly, in the backdoor 48, a shield finger (not shown) is also attached along thecircumference of the opening in the back. When the back door 48 isclosed, the internal space 27 is electromagnetically shielded from theoutside by the shield finger. In this way, electromagnetic shield of theopening by the door is realized.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, in this embodiment, aplurality of (thirteen in this embodiment) windows 26 are provided inthe front door 16 such that a server arranged in the internal space 27can be seen from the outside. As shown in FIG. 2A, these windows 26 havea structure 70 including an acrylic panel and a shield mesh. Moreover,in order to improve shield of the window openings 26, panel attachmentmembers 72 are attached on the front side of the door 16. It isdesirable that these panel attachment members are attached securely tothe door 16 by, for example, stainless shield welding. With such aconstitution, electromagnetic waves are prevented from passing throughthe windows 26 to reach the internal space 27.

Next, an electric circuit in the server rack 10 in this embodiment willbe described briefly. FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic views showingvarious lines passing through the conduits 40 in this embodiment,respectively. In FIG. 8A, an optical fiber cable 100 used as a data lineis passed through the conduit 40. This optical fiber cable 100 passesthrough the conduit 40 to enter the internal space 27 of the upper mainbody 12, and is connected to a light-transforming adapter 102. In thisembodiment, an optical fiber cable not using a metal core wire isdesirable as the optical fiber cable 100. This is because the metal corewire is likely to pick up noises. An ordinary signal line extending fromthe light-transforming adapter 102 is connected to the respectiveservers 30 and the router 32.

In addition, in FIG. 8B, a power supply cable 104 passes through theconduit 40, enters the internal space 27 of the upper main body 12, andis connected to an AC stabilized power supply 106. FIG. 9 is a blockdiagram schematically showing an electric circuit in the server rack 10.As shown in FIG. 9, a signal line from the AC stabilized power supply106 extends to a terminal of a transformer 108 such as a shieldtransformer. Here, a power supply line further on a downstream side thanthe transformer 108 (i.e., a side where a socket or the like isarranged) and a power supply line further on an upstream side than thetransformer 108 are electromagnetically shielded.

Moreover, power supply lines extend to various AC stabilized powersupplies 110-1 to 110-4 from the transformer 108, respectively. Powersupply lines from the AC stabilized power supply 110-1 to 110-3 areconnected to, for example, a group of outlets (sockets) 48-1 to 48-3,respectively, via noise filters 36. In addition, a power supply linefrom the AC stabilized power supply 110-4 is connected to a motor fordriving the blades of the plurality of fans 62 via a noise filter 36.Further, power from the AC stabilized power supply 110-4 is used as apower supply for driving various sensors or driving an alarm lamp or analarm buzzer. In addition, a power supply line passes a power lamp 112.

Therefore, in the case in which power is supplied to the electriccircuit, the power lamp 112 is lit. This power lamp is arranged on thedoor 18 of the lower main body 14 of the server rack 10 (three roundlamps diagonally at the upper right of the handle of the lower frontdoor 18 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A). Therefore, the user can learn presenceor absence of supply of power in the rack 10. Similarly, it is desirablethat the alarm lamp or the alarm buzzer is also arranged on the door 18.

In the above-described example of the electric circuit, the first noisefilter 36 is used. However, it is needless to mention that a noisefilter is not limited to this and the second noise filter 38 may beused. In addition, a noise cut transformer may be used instead of theshield transformer.

According to this embodiment, the upper main body and the lower mainbody are formed of steel with a predetermined thickness, respectively,the honeycomb shield is arranged in openings such as vent holes, and thecircumference of the door opening portion is surrounded by the shieldfinger. In addition, a power supply line and a data line are lead inthrough the conduit 40 from the lower main body to the upper main body.Therefore, it becomes possible to provide a server rack extremelyexcellent in power for blocking electromagnetic waves.

In addition, according to this embodiment, electric circuit componentsrequired to be replaced such as a filter and a transformer are arrangedin the lower main body, and only terminals are exposed in the space 27of the upper main body 12. Therefore, it becomes possible to replace thecomponents in a state in which the servers 30 and the like are housedtherein.

Concerning the server rack 10, taking into account a radiation field ofan illegal amateur radio or the like, 25 MHz, 50 MHz, and 144 MHz wereinspected and evaluated more in detail in a 10 m anechoic chamber inaddition to 80 MHz to 1 GHz which was an ordinary immunity test range.As a result, the server rack 10 passed an inspection for shieldperformance for all the measured frequencies and also passed an immunitytest for all the measured frequencies and all field intensityconditions. In this experiment, no abnormality was found in the servers30 arranged in the server rack 10.

It is needless to mention that the present invention is not limited tothe above-described embodiment, and various alterations are possiblewithin the scope of the invention described in claims and thealterations are included in the scope of the present invention.

For example, thicknesses of an upper main body and a lower main body anda door of a server rack are not limited to those in the embodiment butcan be changed in accordance with shielding properties ofelectromagnetic waves. In addition, the number of fans and vent holescan be changed appropriately in accordance with a size of an internalspace or the number of servers to be housed.

In addition, in the embodiment, the windows consisting of a shield meshand an acrylic panel are provided in the front door such that anoperating state of servers can be monitored from the outside. However,the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is alsopossible to provide a pipe in a vertical direction in the internalspace, arrange a vertically movable monitor camera along the pipe,transmit image data of the monitor camera to an external monitoringdevice via the optical cable passing through the conduit 40, and show astate of the internal space 27 on a screen of a display of themonitoring device.

In this specification, a function of one means may be realized by two ormore physical means, or functions of two or more means may be realizedby one physical means.

According to the present invention, it becomes possible to provide arack which can protect a server from harmful electromagnetic waves fromthe outside.

INDUSTRIAL FIELD OF APPLICATION

The present invention can be used for housing electronic devices, whichare affected by electromagnetic waves, such as a server and a hard diskdrive. In addition, the server rack in accordance with the presentinvention can be arranged in an arbitrary environment, in which theelectronic devices are used, such as an office and a data center.

1. A server rack which comprises: an upper main body which defines aninternal space and is provided with two openings in a fixed directionand formed of metal with a fixed thickness; a lower main body which isat least provided with one opening in the fixed direction and formed ofmetal with a fixed thickness; a front door which closes one opening ofsaid upper main body in a closing position thereof; a back door whichcloses the other opening of said upper main body in a closing positionthereof; and a lower front door which closes the opening of said lowermain body in a closing position thereof, and is capable of housing atleast a plurality of servers in a stacked state in said internal spaceof said upper main body, said server rack comprising: shield fingerswhich are arranged along circumferences of the respective openings ofsaid upper main body; a shield finger which is arranged along acircumference of the opening of said lower main body; intake holes whichare arranged in at least one of said upper main body, said front door,and said back door, the intake holes having at least shield membersarranged in hole portions thereof; exhaust holes which are arranged inat least one of said upper main body, said front door, and said backdoor, the exhaust holes having at least shield members arranged in holeportions thereof; a plurality of conduits which pierce said upper mainbody and said lower main body; an optical fiber cable which passesthrough at least one of said plurality of conduits to reach saidinternal space of said upper main body from said lower main body; alight-transforming adapter which is arranged in said internal space,connected to said optical fiber cable, and converts an optical signaltransmitted through said optical fiber into an electric signal; a powersupply line which passes through at least a remaining one of saidplurality of conduits to reach said internal space of said upper mainbody from said lower main body; an AC stabilized power supply which isarranged in said internal space and connected to said power supply line;and an isolation transformer which is arranged in said internal spaceand connected to said AC stabilized power supply, the isolationtransformer being connected to a plurality of sockets for supplyingpower to the servers on a secondary side thereof.
 2. The server rackaccording to claim 1, wherein said exhaust holes are provided in a topboard of the upper main body and are fans having blades driven by amotor.
 3. The server rack according to claim 1, wherein said intakeholes are arranged in said back door.
 4. The server rack according toclaim 1, wherein holes piercing said upper main body and said lower mainbody are provided, a main body of said isolation transformer is arrangedin said lower main body, and terminals of said isolation transformer areexposed in a space in said upper main body through said holes.
 5. Theserver rack according to claim 1, wherein holes piercing said upper mainbody and said lower main body are provided, noise filters are attachedin said internal space of said lower main body through said holes, andterminals of said noise filters are exposed in said internal space ofsaid upper main body through said holes.
 6. The server rack according toclaim 1, wherein windows for monitoring an operating state of theservers arranged in said internal space from the outside are provided insaid front door, and said windows have a shield mesh.
 7. The server rackaccording to claim 5, wherein said noise filters is interposed betweensaid isolation transformer and said sockets.